Samoan soldiers in WW1

Subtitle

Samoa in the Great War

Roll of
Honour of Samoa born Sailors and Soldiers who fought for
the Allies in the Great War 1914-1918

Allen F K Lieut RNR

*Allen T Lieut RFC

Doughty M Lieut NZEF

Westbrook E Sergt Mjr

Allen R H Sergt

Tattersall H E Sergt

Roberts F Lce Cprl

An Mu M Pvte

Bernard J Pvte

Claxton Pvte

Duffy E Pvte

Fruean A Pvte

Gurr B Pvte

Hills C Pvte

Huckett O Pvte

Hunkin C Pvte

Hunkin G Pvte

McFarland L Pvte

Meredith F Pvte

Meredith O Pvte

Meredith T
Pvte

Parker S Pvte

Railey C Pvte

Stowers J Pvte

Stowers R Pvte

Stowers W Pvte

Swankey A Pvte

Swanney J Pvte

Togimau

*Williams A
Pvte

Yandall A Pvte

Yandall J Pvte

Harder J Want
Ofcr USN

Harder F Abs
USN

Harder P Pvte
US Army

Moors H W Pvte
US Army

Partsch K Pvte
US Army

Paul J Pvte US
Army

Ulberg F Pvte
US Army

*Denotes Died
at the Front

During the build up to the outbreak of war, the
British Government decided to invade the German possessions of New Guinea and
Samoa to prevent attack on the British colonies of the Pacific, and arranged
with the French, Australian and New Zealand Governments to send a fleet of
allied ships to Samoa, carrying New Zealand troops, and another fleet of Australian
ships and troops to New Guinea. On 6 August 1914 Britain’s Secretary of State,
Sir Lewis Harcourt, sent a telegram urging New Zealand’s Governor General to
send a force to seize control of German occupied Samoa.

The New Zealand Samoa Advance Force left
Wellington on 14 August 1914 on board the transport ships Moeraki and Monowai,
converted merchant steamers. They were escorted to Noumea, New Caledonia by
three Royal Naval ships of the New Zealand Division - HMS Psyche, Philomel and Pyramus, and two colliers NZ Colliers Katoa and Koromiko. In Noumea these ships were joined by the French warship Mont calm, and the Australian cruisers Australia and Melbourne. The fleet then proceeded to Suva, Fiji, where ten Legion
of Frontiersmen and thirteen Samoan guides joined them. They sailed for Apia,
arriving there on 29 August 1914, landed the New Zealand troops, captured the
German flags and raised the British flag on the Apia Courthouse.

During 1914, several Samoa-born men living in
Australia and New Zealand enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force and the New
Zealand Expeditionary Force and were sent overseas to fight at Gallipoli. This
campaign lasted 240 days and by 20 December 1915 all the ANZAC troops had been
withdrawn. Recruits from Samoa during 1915 were sent to fight in France and
Belgium, the Western Front, in various New Zealand regiments. A recruiting party
from the New Zealand Samoan Force left Apia for Tonga in January 1916, with
some recruits from Western Samoa. They and the Tongan recruits arrived in New
Zealand later in 1916 and enlisted in the Maori Reinforcements. They served
firstly on the Western Front and later in Palestine. Individuals, usually
Englishmen living in Samoa, enlisted in the British Forces.

Various organizations were set up to raise money for the welfare of the
troops, by holding bazaars and other entertainments. Money was raised for the
Belgian Relief Fund, the Hospital Ship Fund, the Wounded Soldiers’ Fund, the
Samoa Soldiers’ Benefit Fund, the Wounded Aviators’ Fund, the Apia Women’s Patriotic
Fund and the Red Crossby various fund-raising efforts. Two beds at
Netley Hospital were financed by the Apia Women’s Patriotic Fund. In 1918 the
Samoa Times estimated that a total of at least £4000 had been raised in Samoa
for the various funds. This is the equivalent of approximately £160, 000 in
2013.